


let's dance around this bedroom, like we only have tonight

by afishoutofwater (orphan_account)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Smut, a series of oneshots for eremin week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-10-20 02:27:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10653033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/afishoutofwater
Summary: a series of eremin drabbles/oneshots to celebrate eremin season II on tumblr.





	1. Rain

**Author's Note:**

> in which armin forgets his umbrella, but eren’s there to save the day
> 
> my tumblr: fish-tales.tumblr.com

_Typical, of course it would rain today, the one day I forget my umbrella_. Armin lifts a hand up, cupping his palm to catch the sporadic raindrops. His home was too far away for him to just walk and he really didn’t want to have to stay behind at the school until it was over – who knows how long it’ll be till the rain let’s up?

“Hey,” a disembodied voice says behind him. “You okay?”

Armin turns and looks over his shoulder and sees Eren Jaeger, the school’s trouble-maker, and the son of St Rose Hospital’s director. He’s holding his backpack in one hand and a jet black umbrella in the other.

“I forgot my umbrella,” Armin says intermittently between checking Eren out and watching the grey clouds roll over him; his dark skin looks good in this lighting.

“Oh damn, really?” Eren stares down at his umbrella and walks up to face Armin directly. There are freckles on Eren’s face, and they blush against the sun-kissed complexion. His jade-green eyes sparkle welcomingly and he hands out the black umbrella. “Take mine.”

“Oh but I-“

“No it’s fine, I don’t mind walking in the rain,” Eren says with a polite smile. Armin counts the constellations on his face, love struck by the kind gesture. “Unless, you want to walk with me? I can always drop you off home?”

“Oh no, you don’t have to do that! I don’t want to be a bother.”

Eren laughs airily and Armin’s cheeks heat up. “No bother, I swear. C’mon.” He hoists his backpack up onto one shoulder and offers the hand not holding the umbrella to Armin. Armin stares at the hand with a bewildered expression. “I don’t bite… much.”

Armin swears he hears the wink even though he can’t see it. With a bemused smile, Armin takes the outstretched hand and Eren pulls him in closely so they’re both under the umbrella.

“Armin, right?”

“You know my name.”

“Of course I know your name. You sit in front of me in nearly all of our classes,” Eren says with a laugh. “Plus, you’re like super cute so I make it a thing to know the cute guys’ names.”

Armin is speechless and Eren laughs again and it sounds so heavenly, like a chorus of angels. And he praises hallelujah when Eren begins to guide him down the steps from the school entrance, never letting go of his hand. Not even once.


	2. School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> eren is determined to play the superhero but armin’s not willing to be the damsel in distress.
> 
> part 1 of 3

It’s a sunny afternoon in the middle of September, wisps of clouds interrupting the fading sunlight and the crystal blue ocean of the sky was vast above the trees outside the school yard. Armin is standing to the left of the school gate, trousers ripped and a burning red bruise on his cheek. There are strands of tears on his rosy cheeks and his blue eyes are shining with vehement sadness. Eren, on the other hand, is as pristine as a new china doll, standing to the right of the school gate. His clothes are crease-free and untouched, along with his combed brunet hair. His eyes are the most striking thing as he watches Armin through ice-grey irises.

“Are you okay?” He finally asks. They are eleven and this is when they first meet.

Armin is taken-aback, bewildered as to why someone like Eren Jaeger would want to speak to him of all people. “Um… are you talking to me?” Armin asks, pointing at himself quizzically. Eren smiles gently.

“Well, there’s no one else here, right?”

“I guess not,” Armin answers, looking around them. There are a few teachers stood further back, near the entrance, smoking, and watching the two kids with eagle-eyes. Or maybe, Armin thinks, they’re just watching Eren as he has a sizable bounty on his head if anything were to happen to him.

“So, are you okay? Your trouser-“

“I’m fine,” Armin shakes off. “It’s nothing unusual.”

Eren blinks owlishly and shakes his head. A strand of brown hair escapes its gelled prison and it pokes at his perfect nose and now Armin can see freckles dotting along his nose and cheek bones. “No, having a bruise on your cheek _is_ unusual. Why don’t you come home with me, my dad should be by any second, he can take a look at it.”

“Oh… No, I always wait for the bus. My granddad will get worried if I don’t come home straight away.”

Eren doesn’t point out that he and Armin have been stood outside for the past twenty minutes in stock silence and that the last bus had gone thirty minutes ago. “It’s alright, I’m sure if my dad explains, your grandfather will underst-“

“I don’t want to go,” Armin protests and Eren has a hand curled around Armin’s lower arm, when had that happened? “Lemme go,” he says, violently pulling his arm free from Eren’s grasp and turning around and storming down the path towards his home.

Moments later a sleek white car pulls up outside the front entrance and Eren gets in, watching after Armin’s tense form sadly.

* * *

Armin knows all about Eren, about how he tries to be everyone’s hero and tries to be everyone’s figure of justice. The one to stop the bullies because he knows they won’t touch a hair on his arguably pretty head. Anyone with that kind of power has to be manipulating the system, and Armin is sure that no superhero would do that.

They meet again a month later in similar circumstances and Armin is less than impressed. His white shirt is missing half a collar and his blue eye is bruising purple.

“Just tell me who did this to you,” Eren pleads. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Knock it off,” Armin says. “I’m not some weakling for you to protect. I can take care of myself.”

It happens nearly every week, on the days when Armin’s bullies get bored and make him miss the bus again and again thus leading him to take the hour long walk home every time.

Except, the one time he doesn’t.

“Armin!” Eren calls out as he’s about to climb into his father’s car.

“Eren, get in!” His father hisses from inside the car.

“Armin, do you want a lift?” Eren asks. Armin stares at him bemusedly before looking around to the teachers who motion for him to take the offer, mainly because they’re sick of his grandfather calling the school every time he walks home.

Armin takes the offer and climbs in beside Eren. He politely greets Eren’s father who smiles warmly.

“So, you’re Armin,” Grisha says with a kind tone. “Eren’s been talking a lot about you.”

“ _Dad_!” Eren cries out, embarrassed.

Armin is sceptical, is this a prank? Why would Eren talk about him?

“O-oh… All… bad things, I’m sure,” Armin laughs uneasily and in the haze, he’s forgotten to put his seatbelt on. He struggles with the belt and Eren comes up to help him, their fingers brushing as he clicks it in for him. There’s a rosy tint to Eren’s cheeks when their eyes meet and Eren turns away.

“Bad things? Son, I’m not sure what you mean. He’s been telling me how you achieved the highest grade in the entire year.”

“D _ad_ …”

“He… How do you know that?” Armin asks Eren who scratches his head with a sheepish grin.

“I… I…”

Grisha watches from the driver’s seat, glancing in the windshield mirror and there’s a subtle nervousness in Eren’s speech that’s never been there before… Of all the people, he definitely didn’t expect his son’s first crush to be another boy… but, then Eren was always one full of surprises.

After that, Eren and Armin become close friends and spend nearly all day with each other. Lifts with Eren’s dad becomes an occurrence and they even stay over at each other’s houses every other weekend. They build a fantasy around each other, Eren dazed by how much he could ever love Armin and Armin settles into the familiarity he has with Eren.

And then they are twelve, and Eren moves away.


	3. Injury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3 years after moving away, eren finally comes face-to-face with his childhood crush, armin.
> 
> part 2 of 3!

Grisha sighs heavily as he lowers his son’s end of term report card with a fiery glare. “Care to explain the Ds?”

Eren shrugs his shoulders, he’s complacent in the doctor’s office where his father works and he picks up a tongue depressor and snaps it in two without much thought. Grisha growls low in his throat and snatches the two halves from Eren’s hand.

“Eren, be serious. This is your future we’re talking about. You finish school next year, stop being so lazy and start studying.”

Eren stares at his father with empty eyes for a long moment before asking in a monotonous voice. “Is it okay for me to go now?”

“Yes, get the hell out my sight, you wretched child.”

Eren groans and stands up immediately. He swings the office door wide open and lets it slam shut behind him. He wonders what else he can mess with for a little while before getting off home when a nurse hurriedly walks up to his father’s office door and knocks temperamentally.

“Eren, I sai- Oh.”

“Sorry to bother you, Doctor Jaeger, but there’s a young boy with a fractured arm in the A&E and there’s a shortage of doctors around.”

Grisha doesn’t say a word and grabs his lab coat from behind the office door and shuts it to, locking up behind him. Eren skips after him. “Who’s the boy?”

“Didn’t I tell you to get out?”

“Yeah, but I wanna see this boy.”

“Eren, you are not flirting in my damn hospital. Go home.”

“Flirting? Me? I am offended.” Eren presses a hand to his chest and feigns offence. His father shoots him a warning look from over his shoulder.

“He’s in here, Dr Grisha,” the nurse says, gesturing into an unused GP office. Grisha thanks the nurse and moves to close the door in Eren’s face, but his son’s too fast, too swift, and he breaks through into the room. He trips over the outstretched feet of the boy on the bed and lands face first.

“Eren, get out.”

“Eren?” The boy questions and Eren immediately looks up. It’s been three years and he’s looking in Armin’s face. He hasn’t changed, still the same button-nosed cutie pie he had dreamt about when he was younger. His hair’s tied back into a half-updo and he’s wearing huge round glasses, perched on said cute button nose. “Eren!”

“Armin, oh my God!” Eren immediately climbs up onto the bed, feeling eleven again and he stares into Armin’s blue eyes. “I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Armin replies, and his smile is blindingly beautiful.

Grisha clears his throat. “I was told about a fractured arm?”

“Oh, yeah,” Armin says, suddenly realising he’s in a blinding amount of pain and he lifts his right arm up. There’s dark blue bruising on flawless pale skin where the hairline fracture impacted. Eren thinks back to all the times Armin would be injured after school from those-

“Bullies? Did they do that?”

“What?” Armin takes a glance over and Grisha decides for the next level of protocol. “Oh, no, I did this falling over playing volleyball.”

 _Volleyball, Armin plays volleyball_. And then Eren notices that Armin’s wearing super short shorts and a loose fitting sports jersey and his entire body temperature increases.

“We’ll need you to go in for an x-ray,” Grisha says. “Come with me. You,” he says to Eren. “Go home.”

“But-“

Armin smiles sadly over his shoulder. “You go to the school near mine, right? I’ll come by and visit you sometime.”

“Yeah,” Eren replies, watching wistfully as his first love leaves as abruptly as he enters. Grisha pokes his head through the door.

“If you go home now, I can get you his phone number.”

Eren complies, energetically, and is bouncing off the walls when Grisha keeps on his promise, giving Eren a slip of paper with Armin’s scribbled number on it.

“I expect you to use your time with him wisely,” Grisha warns. “He’s a smart boy; let him rub off on you.”

Oh, Eren expects to rub off on him indeed, just probably not in the way his father could ever imagine.


	4. Soft

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> eren can recount all the things he loves about armin.
> 
> a/n: this is NSFW

Everything about Armin is gentle, soft, and delicate. His flawless pale skin that Eren nips at gently with his teeth, a low whine in the back of Armin’s throat as his legs fidget in anticipation and his fingers twist into Eren’s curling hair. His lips are plump, pink, and kissable as Eren draws out the deepest moan from within as he kisses his boyfriend deeply, pulling away slowly to stare into Armin’s crystal clear eyes as they focus on his face.

His hair is soft, as blond as honey is golden, and Eren runs his fingers through them consistently as they kiss and as Armin moves himself further down Eren’s body, looking up with glinting mischief as he wraps those lips around Eren’s dick and he doesn’t even break eyesight, driving Eren beyond sanity as he bobs his head, lowering so the tip hits the back of his throat and his mouth is warm, inviting, and welcoming and Eren bucks his hips in response.

Armin laughs, and it’s melodic, harmonious, and kind and Eren is lost as he dives over the edge, his back arching off the bed, hands gripping those soft, blond locks and Armin swallows with an inaudible gulp.

Armin is all curves and white, there is a blush of pink on his shoulders and the rosy tint of his nipples that stand out against his skin. He’s quiet, loving, and sweet, and Eren is completely, and utterly in love with him.


	5. Nibble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> eren loves to use his teeth for everything.
> 
> a/n: This is NSFW! Smut below!

Eren uses his teeth for nearly everything he does, Armin notes after having been dating him for five months. He uses his teeth to tear open packets of crisps when his hands are occupied with a drink and the TV remote. He also uses them to hold bobby pins when Armin needs help styling his hair for the day. Eren’s teeth receives a daily use for the mundane, but what Armin loves most is the way he would use them during sex.

It starts with a nibble on Armin’s earlobe, a bite so gentle that Armin almost melts into the touch, he cards shaking, anticipating fingers through Eren’s brown hair as those teeth would then map along the shell of Armin’s ear before moving smoothly down to the curve of his neck. He drags his teeth along skin and Armin hitches a breath in his throat.

He can feel it coming, he can feel Eren’s need to bite down, to be rough, and it’s electrifying.

Those teeth move further, still running along skin, before biting down on the dip of Armin’s collarbone, and the first time he tried this, Armin howled in pain and demanded that the session end there, but now he seeks it, he revels in it when Eren gets a little _too_ bitey. Eren kisses the sore and plants a blossoming purple flower underneath, biting into the skin and almost drawing blood, and sucking with a mighty need.

“Eren,” Armin groans and one hand leaves Eren’s hair to run through his own, feeling the sweat slickness of his forehead sticking his fringe to his face. “God…” He cries when Eren bites another bruise into his skin, followed by another before getting to his nipples.

And there, Eren uses the dirtiest trick in the book. He laps at the nub and then blows cold wind, watching as it becomes impossibly hard, and Armin is kicking at the bed because he wants that mouth on his dick right now. “God Eren, _do something_.”

And he does something, just not what Armin had been hoping for, and Eren mouths at Armin’s nipple, running those damned teeth over the flesh, around the areola and watches through fluttering eyelashes to see that Armin is becoming an undone mess, his hair’s sticking up in wild directions from where his hand’s attacked, and his face is red and impatient.

“Armin, you always get so flustered when I suck your nipples,” Eren mumbles and moves onto the next one. “Admit you enjoy this part the most.”

“God, fuck.”

“I don’t hear a yes.”

“Fuck you,” Armin curses out and he bites at his bottom lip when Eren’s teeth pinch at the nub and he has to try so hard not to lose his senses. He can’t blow, not until Eren’s _blown him_.

“ _Ah-ah-ah_ , naughty boys don’t get what they want,” Eren taunts and he moves down a little lower. “Shall I suck your dick?”

“Yes, fuck. Yes.”

Eren hums and he grabs hold of one of Armin’s thighs and hoists into onto his shoulder. He runs his lips over the inner part, the sensitive point, and watches as Armin shivers, vibrating at the sensation and he tosses his head back, partly in pleasure but also in pure frustration. And then comes the teeth and Eren plants another one of those bruising petals on his inner thigh and Armin slams balled up fists into the mattress, urging Eren to _move on and do something_.

“Alright,” Eren complies. “I’ve teased you enough.”

And then his lips find Armin’s dick, standing firm and tall and waiting. Eren takes him completely in his mouth and Armin practically screams at the chance for release. Eren plays with his teeth a lot, but never when he sucks Armin’s dick, he’s mindful of them during that point, making sure Armin gets the most out of it whenever he goes down on him.

He bobs once, maybe twice, and possibly a third time before Armin’s coming in his mouth, garbling Eren’s name in a prayer.

“You and your damn teeth,” Armin says as he comes down from the high and Eren’s crawling back up Armin’s body so they can kiss on the lips and he pulls on Armin’s plump lower lip with his teeth and Armin groans, eyes rolling back into head because he knows where this is going.

And the cycle starts again, but Armin can’t find it in himself to complain – he loves Eren using his teeth as much as Eren does.


	6. Defence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which armin plays the hero for once.
> 
> a/n: Warning: Homophobic language in the story below. The q-slur is mentioned once, so please be careful when reading this story.
> 
> This is part 3 of 3!

“So, do you have a boyfriend at the minute?” Eren asks when he and Armin meet up at the playground near Eren’s town house. They sit on the swings meant for the older children and Armin swings haphazardly for a moment, losing footing when Eren pops his question.

“Wh-what?”

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Eren repeats with a patient smile. His hair is no longer gelled back and he’s letting grow out shaggy and Armin has to admit, it’s a damn good look for him.  They’re sixteen and there’s a solid, unresolved tension between them now.

“No, why would I?!”

“Why _wouldn’t_ you? You’re freaking _hot_ , Armin.” Eren gestures at everything from his unkempt ponytail and round glasses, magnifying gorgeous blue eyes, to the perfectly squared jaw and the fact that volleyball has helped him to fill out in _all_ the right places.

Armin chokes on his own saliva and he falls backwards off the swing, hitting his head against the gravelled underlay. “Shit.”

“You okay?” Eren asks, getting up from his own swing and helping his friend up. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to surprise you… I thought you knew I liked you.”

“You like me?” Armin questions and he’s staring up into those grey eyes that were only ever warm and kind to him. The same eyes that would ablaze whenever Eren started fights, the same eyes that demanded to know the names of those who hurt and harassed Armin all those times during school…

“ _Duh_.”

“Well, I feel dumb.”

Eren laughs heartily and he claps a hand onto Armin’s shoulder when Armin gets up to his feet. “Listen I… I don’t want to make this awkward but do you thin-“

“Ar _lert_!”

“Oh God,” Armin groans out. “Let’s just go before they cause trouble.”

 _They_ being a group of jocular young men, wearing the crest of Armin’s high school on their letter jackets. Jean Kirstein leads with a cocky grin on his face and Eren is still, squaring him down with those enticing icy-grey eyes.

“Eren,” Armin insists, pulling on his t-shirt.

“Arlert, who’s this?” Jean asks, glaring down at Eren. “Your boyfriend?”

“So what if I am?” Eren proposes. “What are you gonna do about it, _Kirstein_?”

“How do- _Eren Jaeger_? Oh this is a _great_ day. I was just gonna give Armin here a lesson about lookin’ at me wrong but now you’re here, I can finally get back at you for getting me suspended three times.”

“That was your own doing, jackass,” Eren replies. He hasn’t calmed down, his jaw still fully clenched, but his arm is around Armin’s shoulder, leaning him in to defend him. “I would’ve thought you learnt to stop being a bully, but I guess idiots never change.”

“Listen,” Jean grinds out, and he clicks his knuckles. “Eren, you don’t wanna mess with me…”

“I’m _so_ scared.”

“Eren, just leave it,” Armin whispers.

“Yeah, Eren, do what your boyfriend says and get out of here, you fucking _queer_.”

And then Armin whirls around, clocking Jean directly in the face with a full swing. Eren stands aside, completely surprised, gawking, as Jean falls to the ground unceremoniously.

“Don’t you _ever_ call Eren that again you pie-“

“Armin…” Eren warns, watching as Jean’s goons were revving to take their own swing on their favourite punching bag. “Armin, I love you but we gotta go.”

Armin focuses on Eren’s eyes, those beautiful eyes, and comes back with a look of horror etched on his face. “We gotta go,” he echoes and Eren takes hold of his hand and they race away from the playground. “What have I done? What have I done?” Armin cries out as Jean’s goons chase after them and Eren begins to see the benefit of playing sports at school as opposed to sitting on the sofa playing video games as he wheezes, a stitch cramping in his side. But, Armin’s faster and he takes the lead, weaving them through the woods and then shoving Eren down behind a large shrub.

Eren pulls just as harshly and Armin ends up on top of him, their noses just touching. “Let’s stay here for a while… Till they go, I mean.”

Armin agrees, nodding once and tries to roll off from Eren, only to still in deathly silence when the leaves shift in a suspicious manner. “Guess I’m staying here.”

“I’m not going to complain,” Eren laughs. “Hey, thanks for that back there. That was cool of you.”

“I’m dead at school tomorrow,” Armin groans.

“Nah, I think you’ll be okay,” Eren says. “You punched Jean in the face. That takes guts.”

Armin glares down at Eren before smiling in relief. “Hey, Eren, so what were you gonna ask me before we were interrupted earlier?”

Eren grins. “Wanna catch a movie this weekend?”

“Sure, I think you owe me after all.”

They both laugh as silently as they can manage and Armin collapses on top of Eren, he ceases laughing, and then swallowing thickly when he gets a whiff of Armin’s shampoo and he tries so hard not to think about how close their crotches are and oh God, he’s always dreamt to be under Armin and whilst they weren’t in the exact scenario he had pictured, it was close enough. “I- uh… I notice you didn’t deny when I said I was your boyfriend…”

Armin looks up to Eren. “Maybe I didn’t want to deny it.”

Oh God, Eren was sure Armin was going to kill him way before their date.


	7. Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the shiganshina trio climb a tree.

“C’mon, Armin, it’s not that high,” Eren smiles down at Armin with a gapped-tooth grin. The blond shuffles at his feet and he feels an inch tall as Eren climbs the tree a little higher.

“Eren, be careful,” Mikasa says down to her brother from a few branches above.

Armin stands at the trunk, an unsteady hand pressed at the base. He swallows his fear and reaches for the lowest branch in his grasp. He swings a little, both hands holding on for a dear life and he’s not even off the ground just yet before panic swirls over him and he let’s go.

He lands awkwardly and topples over backwards, landing backside-first into dusty dirt. Eren glances down at the thud.

“Armin!” He cries out and begins to climb down, with prickly hot tears threatening to spill. “Armin, I’m so sorry.” He gets impatient and jumps off the tree, much to Mikasa’s distress, and she too begins to climb down, feeling somehow responsible for both of them.

“I’m okay,” Armin says, sitting up and Eren’s at his feet, pressing down on his ankles, mimicking his father. “Eren, I’m okay!”

Eren looks up at Armin and those hot, fat tears are steaming down dirty, red cheeks. “I’m sorry,” he mumbles and Armin feels hot and cold all over – Eren had thought he had seriously injured himself.

“Eren, he didn’t even climb the tree,” Mikasa states, having reached the ground as well. “He just toppled over.”

Eren looks from his sister to his best friend and then at his scratched, dirty knees. “So you’re not hurt?”

“No,” Armin shakes his head.

Eren leans back and smiles for a long time, wiping his tears haphazardly with his forearms, as children were wont to do. “C’mon then, you can climb with me. I won’t leave you behind this time.” He holds out a hand for his clumsy friend and Armin takes it with a similarly gapped-tooth smile.

Eren helps Armin climb up the tree, making sure he’s first to take hold on each branch and within a few minutes all three are sat the top, looking over the field. There isn’t anyone around for as far as their eyes can see, all alone in their fantasy world. The adventure of childhood has them clasped in its hand, unwilling to let go until they had forced to grow up, only a few years later.


	8. Walls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> armin had spent his whole childhood building a wall to protect himself and he never expects eren to be the one to break through.
> 
> a/n: welp, this is it. my last contribution to eremin for the time being. it was so much fun being a part of this fandom and i still love eremin with all of my heart and who knows, i might return after season 2. 
> 
> thank you to everyone for your support, and i hope you will continue to support me in the future!
> 
> all my love guys,  
> fish x

Armin wasn’t sure when it had happened, but the wall he had spent years of his life constructing as a defence had been broken through at the weakest point – age ten, being shoved against a white-washed wall by a couple of rowdy boys from down the street, and out of the corner of his eye he sees a boy his age brandishing a stick, as if it were a sword, come charging like a maddened bull.

“Piss off!” The boy yells and he swings and swings. Armin falls to the ground, being released by the bullies as they use their hands to defend their faces from the attack. They run, cursing at the strange boy but threaten to come back. “You okay?” The boy asks and he holds out a scuffed hand and Armin can see a splinter poking out of his thumb.

“Who are you?” Armin asks with wide-eyed wonder.

The boy grins. “I’m Eren Jaeger. You’re Armin, right? My dad knows your grandpa.”

The grin is contagious and Armin allows the boy to help him up. He brushes himself down and then looks at Eren and there’s an unmistakable sparkle of the unknown in those grey eyes. He probably always appears cold and off-putting with those eyes but right now they’re the warmest thing Armin’s ever seen.

Age ten and Eren breaks through Armin’s defence with a kind gesture.

Armin feels like he can tell Eren everything and whilst he listens there’s a sense of other-worldliness is the way Eren talks. He speaks of oceans and vast skies that end beyond a stone, fifty-foot wall. Armin ignites a fire, a dream inside Eren, with a book he discovers in his grandfather’s attic and the two vow, under starlight at the age of twelve, to see this world that they could only ever dream of.

The walls Armin had spent so long building had been left in ruin, the destruction resulting from the break through at the weakest point – age sixteen, and he’s pressed up against a wide tree trunk, Eren’s once kind grey eyes are wild with an unmistakable need to do _something_ that isn’t press-ups and jumping jacks and manoeuvre gear training.

Out of the corner of his eye, Armin sees a few of the other cadets talking amongst themselves and there are only two of them in this dense forestry.

“I’m sorry,” Eren begins. “But if I don’t do this now, I never will. Can I kiss you?”

Armin’s so taken aback by the idea that all he can do is nod and the next thing he knows, Eren’s kissing him gently as if he’s made of the finest china, breakable and delicate.

There’s a sharp inhale when Armin kisses back and he tugs at Eren’s jacket. It falls from Eren’s shoulders, and he doesn’t even break away from Armin’s accepting lips for a second and then he presses harder against Armin, and against the tree. Armin reminds him that he’s not china, he won’t smash if Eren presses a little harder, he won’t crack if Eren’s a little rougher.

And they stay like that for a long time, only breaking away for a second to come up for air before drowning in each other again.

Armin’s walls had been left in ruins and it had been all Eren’s fault, but Armin realises, at the age of nineteen when he looks into those ice-grey eyes that seem somehow unfamiliar but recognisable beyond doubt all at the same time, that he doesn’t need a defence because Eren will be there, to make sure that a wall never needs to be built again.


End file.
